The invention concerns a centre arm for holding an upper grilling or roasting plate, the centre arm having a substantially vertical supporting section and a holding section which is arranged pivotably on the vertical supporting section and on which is arranged the upper grilling or roasting plate. Furthermore, the invention concerns a contact grilling or roasting device having at least one upper contact grilling or roasting plate and a lower contact grilling or roasting plate, wherein the or each upper contact grilling or roasting plate is arranged pivotably on the lower contact grilling or roasting plate by a centre arm.
Centre arms of this kind are used in the field of contact grilling or roasting devices having at least two contact plates designed for contact with the material to be grilled or roasted. Such contact grilling or roasting devices are known e.g. from EP 0 662 299 B1 and include an upper contact grilling or roasting plate and a lower contact grilling or roasting plate, wherein the upper contact grilling or roasting plate is pivotably linked by a centre arm to the lower contact grilling plate. Associated with both contact plates is a unit which receives the wiring and has corresponding control elements, the unit usually being arranged below the two contact plates. The centre arm is usually in two parts. To put it another way, a centre arm element is mounted rigidly in the region of the lower contact grilling or roasting plate. A second centre arm element is arranged pivotably on the first centre arm element and holds the upper contact grilling or roasting plate.
The two contact grilling or roasting plates have a common pivot shaft. As a rule, the lower contact grilling or roasting plate is designed and arranged stationarily, while the upper contact grilling or roasting plate is designed and arranged so as to be pivotable on the lower contact grilling or roasting plate. For this purpose the centre arm element is arranged in the region of the upper contact grilling or roasting plate, namely a holding section, by means of the pivot shaft on the centre arm element with which the lower contact grilling or roasting plate is associated. The supporting section is of substantially linear design, while the holding section has a cranked shape. To put it another way, the holding section is approximately L-shaped, wherein the pivot shaft is arranged in the region of the short arm. This means that the pivot shaft is arranged eccentrically relative to the centre axis of the holding section. The pivot shaft is also arranged eccentrically in relation to the centre axis of the supporting section, namely at a distance from the centre axis in the direction of the lower contact grilling or roasting plate. This off-centre arrangement of the pivot shaft in relation to the centre axes of the centre arm does, however, have the drawback that firstly a considerable pivot range is produced, so that such a contact grilling or roasting device needs a free space in order to allow the free pivot movement. To put it another way, existing contact grilling or roasting devices cannot be positioned directly on a rear boundary, namely usually a wall or the like. Secondly, the whole construction in particular of the centre arm is unstable due to the leverage caused by the L-shape in relation to the pivot shaft. Another drawback lies in that additional functions such as for example devices for weight relief and/or devices for fixing the pivot movement can be produced only with very high expenditure on construction.